When I think of “dangerous boys” I think of the thugs who stole Husband’s cell phone yesterday. But of course, "The Dangerous Book for Boys” that I received free-for-review from the Parent Bloggers Network is exactly the opposite: an opportunity to jump back into a time when the boys played stickball outside homes with stoops, or constructed batteries and go-carts with their own hands...

Read the original review, posted to Kari's Couch

I gave “Garage Sale America” to my dad for Father’s Day; it was the perfect gift. Many of my childhood memories include garage-sale finds. I remember my dad went off to a sale for knick-knacks and came home with a light blue convertible. Although my first bicycle was brand new, subsequent ones were from garage sales...

Read the original review, posted to Kari's Couch

I received tons of Noah-themed toys when the Cat was born. They ranged from the more subtle plush cuddly animals to the board books that used words like “evil,” “lazy,” and “kill.” I was frustrated by the latter of course, since although I want my kids to know the Noah parable, I don’t think scare-tactics at newborn-hood is a good route.

The Parent Bloggers Network allowed me to receive free-for-review several pairs of animals from Caboodle! Toys LLC’s “Noah’s Pals” collection. These are not hastily put-together figurines...

Read the original review, posted to Kari's Couch

The familiar orange-pink swirled envelope came in the mail last week. This time, enclosed within was a DVD offering a free trial of NoodleNet, a safe way for kids to browse the internet. Sometimes it will be a fabric softener sample, or a DVD of a new television show, such as when "Meerkat Manor" came out.

I still have fond memories of the show "Cover Shot," for which I voted on a "final shot" as one of the original VocalPoint members. I was in "the Club" so early in the game that I actually voted on the design of the envelopes in which VocalPoint sends their product samples, coupons, and announcements!

Why did I become a member?

I loved the Dangerous Book for Boys. As such, while I was eager to review the The Daring Book for Girls, I was also a bit nervous that perhaps it wouldn’t live up to its inspiration. I knew it could either be a worthy match, or a weak attempt dressed in pink. While The Daring Book for Girls indeed has sparkles on its cover, they are welcome, for the content inside definitely sparkles. (And, the cover is not pink!)

Like The Dangerous Book for Boys, this “companion” is full of exciting facts, “how-to”s, and plenty of nostalgia.

I received The Daring Book for Girls free-for-review via the Parent Bloggers Network.

The good folks at Johnson & Johnson who sponsored my trip back east earlier this year for Camp Baby have spoiled me again! Last Thursday I had the amazing opportunity to take part in a conference call with Olympic Champion Janet Evans (pictured here with her daughter Sydney).

I've posted my thoughts surrounding the subject matter over on The Karianna Spectrum, but wanted to mention it here as well.

As part of their sponsorship of the Beijing Games, J&J is doing a "Thanks Mom!" series of commercials during the Games. Although I wish they would include dads in all this, I am eager to find out which athletes' mothers they profile, and am interested in seeing a little "behind the athlete" information.

Husband and I typically end up with multiples of the same gift, like the year we both got each other America. Typically the duplicates end up because Husband will talk about how much he wants something, so I'll buy it for him. But days before Christmas, he'll go out and purchase whatever is already wrapped under the tree.

So I stopped listening to his first choice, figuring he'd get it for himself. I focused more on the "lower down" priority items.

Last year he kept talking about a slingbox. But I thought I knew better. I wasn't going to purchase something he'd no doubt buy on his own during Thanksgiving sales or Pre-Christmas sales or Friday Fry's sales.

The day before Christmas, Husband mentioned how excited he was that he'd be getting a slingbox for Christmas. He assumed that is what I had already bought. He was ecstatic.

Except I hadn't bought one, of course.

Not wanting to disappoint him, I quickly went online to Best Buy and did an in-store pickup order. While the store itself had long lines and packed aisles, the in-store pickup line was small. We were out of the store - coveted present in hand - in less time that it took us to find parking.

And so, my first tip to those of you who have waited too long to shop for Christmas (or the latter half of Hanukkah) is to see which big stores have in-store pickup. It is easy to browse online for that perfect gift, and typically is pretty easy to pick it up since most stores have separate lines for their online sales.

(The one exception I found to this was when I bought a camera at Circuit City - the closest store was sold out, so I purchased it at a store a half hour away. Guess what happened? That store didn't have it when I arrived, but discovered that my local store did! In the end I got my camera, but that particular excursion took a lot of driving and involved confusion.)

Another idea is the dreaded overnight shipping - yet for stores like zappos.com that already ship overnight, you're golden. Still, most overnight shipping options are pretty pricey, so you might want to brave the malls.

Or, you could buy something that is electronically fulfilled, such as an iTunes gift certificate or an Amazon.com gift certificate delivered via email.

Plenty of websites offer extended content for a fee. No, I am not suggesting purchasing "adult materials" for your preteen cousin. Rather, for kids there are sites like Club Penguin, a favorite of my boys. While the basic experience is plenty of fun, being a member allows the little penguins to accumulate coins to purchase pet puffles, buy snazzy new outfits, and deck out their igloo like budding interior designers would. In the Cat's case, that means purchasing as many toy trains as possible to create a "rug."

For older folks, there is Happy Neuron. I learned about this brain fitness website shortly after I had realized that I wasn't very good at the Brain Age DS game. (And don't even talk to me about Big Brain Academy.) "Mommy brain" is no myth: my brain is so filled with details of appointments, tasks, and managing other folks' lives that I don't have time to read or do puzzles to expand the other parts of my brain.

As we age, our brain "sags" just like our bodies do. Those who keep mentally fit by exercising their brain end up faring much better than those who don't. Plus, it is fun (until the computer tells you that you are mentally weak, that is!)

Happy Neuron is offering a 20%-off holiday special on a year's membership to the website. Members have access to 35 games (plus 5 beta Wii games.) The games fit in five categories: visual-spacial, attention, executive function, memory, and language. Each game has several difficulty levels, plus the program itself will recommend games based on the user's weaknesses.

I tried using the "coach" function whereby the computer is supposed to take me through an optimum combination of games based on my preferences, time available to "work out," and my past performance. Unfortunately, this feature didn't work for me (I was given a login free for the purposes of review, but perhaps this is a feature only available to full members, not reviewers.) And so, I tried out the five free games.

Does it surprise you that on the "split words" game that I was able to do the one about football but did horrifically on the "agriculture" one? (I can still hear my grandmother's tsk-tsk from many years ago when she learned I couldn't tell the difference between different types of cows. Sorry, I don't know anything about farming.) I thought I would do fantastically on "Catch the Ladybug" because after college I was a research assistant in a visual psychophysics lab. We did lots of "search" experiments, and since I had to program and test such things, I became very good at visual search. But my downfall in this Happy Neuron game was my trackball skills. I saw the ladybug immediately, but had a hard time rolling my way over. Perhaps a traditional mouse would be better in this instance.

There are other games that rely on time where an individual's ability to move the mouse becomes a limiting factor. This concerns me for the grandparent-set who might otherwise benefit from these mind-enhancing games. For these folks, those games without a time limit (but which will still record time) would be more accurate: as their time decreases with practice, the improvement can be attributed more to mental performance and less to mousing-ability. But for games that stop if the user fails to provide the answer, the individual wouldn't be able to practice the actual task unless the time required could be increased.

I love that there are a variety of games to "train" the user so the "workouts" are not boring. The site has a section on brain fitness science, plus has recommendations for other (sometimes offline) products. In addition to the aforementioned Wii games in beta, there is also a "Happy Neuron Junior" program in development. The Cat loves various games, particularly online. Although some of the games I've played through Happy Neuron are perfectly appropriate for him, I imagine the "junior" version will have aspects (such as in the "language" category) that will better fit his grade level.

Consider Happy Neuron for that otherwise difficult-to-buy-for adult. Grandmothers have enough perfume, bath oil, and lotion. And does Granddad really need another tie? Young(er) adults would like these games, too, so don't think your recipient needs to have grey hair. (I think my parents are sharper than I am at this point, anyway.)

Or maybe spend some time on the site yourself; it certainly wouldn't hurt! After all, the present I am getting for Husband is one that I hope to get myself at some point. This is one year where I'm actually hoping for a duplicate (but not expecting it.)

I cannot play the guitar, as evidenced by this photo in which I am holding the thing upside down (apparently.) And then there is my son, who was so obsessed with a pink ukulele that when he randomly found a $20 bill mere feet from a store selling pink ukuleles - right after I told him I wouldn't use my money to buy him one - he purchased it himself. (I mean, how could he not given that the gods were apparently smiling down on him?)

So when Mom Central put out a call to try Guitar Hero for the DS, of course I responded. Not because I think I'm a rock-star, but because I clearly need the help. More so, I wanted to try out these games because I knew my boys would be interested. After all, they spent a good portion of Thanksgiving watching my brother play Guitar Hero on his Playstation.

I figured, if my brother can do it, so can I! (But, um, apparently he's the one who got the guitar talent.)

Last week, Splig celebrated his fifth birthday (has it really been five years?) Today, he's having his party. So, his birthday has been drawn out a bit, only bisected by the Fourth of July holiday. He wishes his birthday could go on and on and on...

Last year, his birthday actually did go on, in that a relative sent him a present in the autumn. In many ways, I'm glad for the delay - because of course it gave him something to open up several months after the fact. But then on the flip side, I guess he thinks he can have "birthday presents" anytime during the year.

But I digress.

The present he received last autumn was an Insect Lore Live-Butterfly Garden. Ironically enough, he received a Live-Butterfly Treehouse as a prize during our Activeion meeting with Bill Nye the Science Guy - so next go around we'll double our fun! There are also Butterfly Pavillions available if you want larger numbers of butterflies at one time.

I'll admit I was skeptical at first. My first and only experience of "send away for live animals" was with one of those traditional green plastic sand Ant Farms.